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We’ve all heard about it, some of us may remember a loved one who had the disease, and a few of us may be or have been caretakers for those loved ones.

It’s hard to think about Alzheimer’s, I get that. It’s hard for the young to think about growing old, about dying, and even harder to think about being old with no idea who you and those around you are. No one wants to think about it, but we must.

So why should you care about it?

Alzheimer’s is the SIXTH leading cause of death in the U.S. And there’s currently nothing we can do about it.

*Note: I copied this directly from my SparkPeople blog, so just ignore the ‘since you’re on SparkPeople’ statement later on in the post.

If you’re anything like me, you might run across a few pounds of ground beef on sale, pick it up, come home and stick it in the fridge with every intention of portioning it out before it goes into the freezer, then realizing almost too late that it’s been sitting in the fridge for days, and you don’t have time to portion it right now, so you just toss the whole thing in the freezer to be sorted later. When later finally rolls around, and you decide you want to make hamburgers out of that thriftily priced protein, you have to haul out this large, frozen lump of ground meat and wait forever and a day for it to thaw, wash your hands, portion it, wash your hands, patty it, wash your hands, then cook it.

While my time saving idea won’t do you much good if you toss the burger in the freezer, it WILL help you save lots of time & mess if you’ll take the initiative to go ahead and portion it straight away.

First, while portioning, rip off a small piece of plastic wrap and cover the weighing portion of your scale with it. If you have a scale with buttons, pull off another small piece and cover the ON/TARE button. Now you don’t have to worry about any nasty bacteria because you can simply remove and toss the plastic wrap when you’re finished.

There’s nothing fancy to this part. I simply weigh out 4 oz amounts of ground beef until the container is gone, putting each one in it’s own zipper lock sandwich baggie. The last portion very rarely has an even 4 oz, so I like to have a permanent marker on hand to write down the precise weight (I measure almost everything in grams, for more precise calorie counting, but I’m occasionally neurotic, so…).

After everything is weighed and bagged, simply toss into the freezer for when you’re ready to make burgers.

Again, if you’re like me, you grew up eating ‘Momma Burgers’. You know the kind I mean; they take 15 minutes (if you’re lucky!) to cook, and by the time they’re done, they’ll give you lockjaw just trying to get a bite that includes both sides of the bun, the burger and all the fixins. This is the precise reason I rarely ever ate burgers-by-mom once I reached a certain age. While they were delicious, they were just too much of a pain to try to eat. Hot dogs were just easier.

I’m going on the assumption that if you’re on SparkPeople, you’re not making ‘Momma Burgers’ (a 4 oz serving would more closely resemble ‘Momma Meatballs’!) so you’re intending a nice, thin, uniform patty.

Pull out your previously portioned burger and thaw. Open the zippered baggie (but don’t take out the burger yet!), add your desired spices (I prefer garlic powder and onion powder on mine), reseal the baggie, and smoosh the meat around so your seasonings get worked into the meat to your satisfaction (you may find you need to let some of the air out or allow some in, it’s what is easiest for you). Once you’ve gotten the seasoning worked through the meat, let most of the air out of the baggie and reseal it.

Now make your patty as usual INSIDE THE BAGGIE.

With this method it is quite possible to never touch the meat after you’ve weighed it out after purchase. I do, because I don’t feel like taking the time to cut the baggie open as I’m putting the patties on the grill or in the pan, but technically, you don’t have to touch it if you don’t want to.

This saves countless minutes of time, especially if you’re trying to make several dishes while you’re making your patties or your phone rings, or you have little ones who need your attention or help, because they’ll always need it once you’ve put your hands in the burger!

That’s right, so far there’ve been NO slip-ups for me! I am officially three months smoke free, and my Love has gone his first full 24 hours without a cigarette. He hasn’t quit, but he has still cut back significantly, and finally says he actually wants to quit.

I am so proud of him.

I am so proud of ME!

I have passed on approximately 3,748 cigarettes (~187 packs), which equals to roughly $637.00.

YAY, me!

Okay, enough tooting my own horn. On to the cute stuff!

Lucky, my kitten (who isn’t really ‘kitten’ size anymore). I did promise to have pictures (and I do) however, the only ones that are on the computer are from when we first got him, so you will see the ‘ball-o-fluff’ photos for now.

Well, it’s that time of year again… not that any of you would know this, since my blog didn’t exist this time last year! It is time for us to sojourn to the beach for a few days with my family.

I’m really looking forward to it, because I get two and a half days to spend time with my family and my Love away from the normal day to day monotony and annoyances that one has to deal with at ‘home’. Plus, I really like the beach in Fall.

Hopefully I’ll get some nice pictures (if the rain ever stops!) so I’ll have something for ‘show’ as well as ‘tell’ when we get back!

I’m sure our housemate will appreciate a weekend to himself for once, as well!

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This post is possibly inflammatory, and was very difficult to write… please read the commenting guidelines before crafting a reply. Thank you.

I was raised racist.

That’s a scary thing to admit in this day and age, when merely saying the word ‘racism’ is inviting an emotional firestorm down on your head.

A few days ago, my submission to ‘Project O’ was posted. In the days leading up to its publication, I began to grow concerned. I’d answered the questions as openly and honestly as I was able, including things I wasn’t necessarily proud of, namely the fact that I was raised to be a racist. Continue reading →

My greatest appreciation to znjavid (check out her blog HERE for more pics of her adorable son, and some good poetry, too!) for offering me a picture to edit 🙂 Thank you for letting me try my hand at editing the picture of your little fella! The picture was a little blurry at full size, so I did the best I could… I hope you like at least one of them (but it’s okay if you don’t)!

Original

Tried to make this a little whimsical… but afterward I though it was a little too blurry looking… but decided to put it in anyway.

This one I was going for a more ‘retro’ look… it reminds me of those old pictures from backwhen I was a kid 🙂 …

Black & White, of course

Ended up being my favorite…

I hope you liked at least one of these, and THANK YOU AGAIN for giving me the chance to edit your picture, it really helped take my mind off of my doldrums! (If you’d like me to e-mail these to you, just let me know, but you may be able to right-click and get the full sized images.)

Tonight I did something I haven’t done in a very long time, and something I’d never done before.

I read a blog post here about how nice it is to get a handwritten note or letter in the mail, and I decided that I would do the same. I pulled out my dusty stationary and began writing a note to my mom. It’s been a very long time since I wrote a letter to be put in the mail and sent off, even longer since I wrote one by hand that wasn’t written on the inner flap of a greeting card.

After I finished the letter to my mom, I didn’t want to stop, so I decided I would write another letter, this one to my nephew. He’s almost 16, and his home life is pretty rough right now, and I had intended to just write him a little note telling him that I loved him and stuff, but it turned into a lot more. I wrote to him about how soon he would be a man, and how important it was to know just what kind of man he wanted to become. I told him to respect himself, and to respect women, even when they don’t respect themselves. I asked him to be kind, I told him that there was always time for one more hug, and that no one ever regretted not being a worse person in life. I told him that I loved him, and that I would be there for him if he ever needed me, and that the hard times will pass, even though they may not seem like it right now. Continue reading →